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CD reviews

Mardi Gras

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Mardi Gras Audio CD

A fair review of the Creedence Clearwater Revival "Mardi Gras" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Creedence Clearwater Revival reviews here, or go back to the Creedence Clearwater Revival tabs.

Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Title: Mardi Gras
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Lookin' for a Reason 2: Take It Like a Friend 3: Need Someone to Hold 4: Tearin' Up the Country 5: Someday Never Comes 6: What Are You Gonna Do? 7: Sail Away 8: Hello Mary Lou 9: Door to Door 10: Sweet Hitch-Hiker

Maybe not as good but more interesting than PENDULUM
It's not the disastrous mess it's reputed to be. MARDI GRAS is actually a pretty good album. It's definitely something of a misstep, but as with many great artists who have stumbled, CCR's failure is far more interesting than lesser groups' successes.

Basically, this album is exactly what it's nickname implies, "Fogerty's Revenge. " John Fogerty, angered at his brother for leaving the band and at his remaining bandmates for their open resentment of his hogging the spotlight as chief songwriter and front man, gave Doug Clifford and Stu Cook free reign over 2/3 of the album.

Clifford and Cook's contributions to the album are, for the most part, good, solid country-rock. Admittedly, they're inferior to Fogerty's work, but their songs are catchy enough, with the exception of Cook's "Sail Away," which, while a decent song, suffers from Cook's inability to effectively sing his own soulful lyrics. Clifford's warmer, richer voice is more pleasant to the ear, though Cook's harsh voice works better on his terrific "Door to Door" and "Take it Like a Friend" (the latter of which is veiled attack on Fogerty, with Cook going so far as to mock Fogerty's shrill vocal style).

Fogerty, however, does prove himself to be the true driving force behind CCR, offering up the album's three best songs (one of them, "Someday Never Comes," being one of the best songs he's ever written) and a fun, if not slight cover of "Hello, Mary Lou. " However, there is a flip side to the "Fogerty's Revenge" spin many give this record, as it reveals Fogerty to be exactly what his bandmates accused him of being; an arrogant, unreasonable and possessive control-freak, too stubborn and petty to help his cohorts craft their own musical aspirations.

Basically, MARDI GRAS is not the swan song most would have hoped for a powerhouse band such as CCR. But despite it being an undeniable misstep, it is a totally listenable and interesting album.

Not as fun as actually going to Mardi Gras!
The "breakup" album for good ole CCR. Here it is. The end of the road in 1972. A band who had nearly four years of glorified chart successes for it all to come down to this. I finally got my chance to hear "Mardi Gras" as part of the CCR box set (which I have my own review of) and while the album is what most people make it out to be, it's certainly not "the worst album ever recorded by a popular band" as Rolling Stone blatantly put it. Here's a run down of the songs:

LOOKIN' FOR A REASON - Fogerty opens up the album with this one. It's too hokey country for my taste, and I like some hokey country. John actually has an uncanny vocal r to Clarence White of the later-day Byrds on this one.

TAKE IT LIKE A FRIEND - Stu's vocal debut on the album. It's a funky, groovy rocker with Stu sounding not unlike Gene Parsons of the later-day Byrds, only more gruff and well, out of tune.

NEED SOMEONE TO HOLD - Doug's vocal debut on the album. Not all that bad, a good musical and lyrical exercise in lonliness. It's emotional and confessing. A point for ole Doug here.

TEARIN' UP THE COUNTRY - Doug's second song on the album. S-U-C-K-S.

SOMEDAY NEVER COMES - What can be said here? One of Fogerty's best songs ever! This one never fails to get me teared up. One of the most "four piece" Creedence sounding songs on a "three piece" Creedence album.

WHAT ARE. . . . . - Doug handling vocals once again and it's a better rocker that Stu's "Take It Like A Friend," that's for sure. The song comes complete with female backup vocals on the chorus.

SAIL AWAY - Another one from Stu which probably would've made a better Jimmy Buffett song! Stu's vocals here are downright HORRIBLE. So bad you'll either sit through it and laugh or run to hit the skip button on your CD player.

HELLO MARY LOU - It works great in Fogerty's hands but he probably could have done without the reverb effect on his vocal.

DOOR TO DOOR - This is probably the best lead vocal Stu turns in on the entire album. He does well on sounding "rude and crude" here though the lyrics are pretty out of touch with the rest of the CCR catalog.

SWEET HITCH HIKER - And what can be said here as well? Full tilt classic CCR to close out a hodge-podge album. A hit single in 1971 before fans knew what would be coming in April of 1972!

So I give this album two stars for a rating of "FAIR. " Cook and Clifford's songs suffer for a number of reasons, all of which have been previously stated in other reviews. Their lyrics are somewhat all right in places but some of their efforts to sing are another story. The musicianship between Fogerty, Cook, and Clifford is just fine, you don't really hear Tom missing. So only take a chance on this one if you really want to complete your CCR collection.

CCR at their worst
They were at the top. While John Fogerty was at the helm CCR sold record after record. That wasn't good enough for brother Tom who quits the band. Other members Doug Clifford and Stu Cook were busy yelling I can sing I can write songs. John gave in and said do it and more or less walked away from what he knew would be a disaster. And it was. Others that follow a genius might find they are better off in doing so. I gave this a big thumbs down when it first came out and still do.

CCR's last hurrah
Although his presence is not missed by the band you can really tell that they were running on fumes by then. This is the last studio album recorded by CCR and was recorded as a three
piece since the departure of Tom Fogerty. I only purchased this cd to complete my Creedence collection.

Better than I'd hoped
From various reviews, I expected this album to be an atrocity aside from the the hits that got lots of air play. I just picked up the 6 cd Creedence boxed set, which includes all the music from Mardi Gras. I was pleasantly surprised however. It's really not that bad. It's not the strongest CCR recording by any means. Doug Clifford's vocals are pleasant enough. Stu Cook's vocals may be ragged, but I've heard far worse on recordings by other big name bands. The album probably appears weaker than it really is because of comparisons to the rest of the CCR catalog. .

You can see a complete list of all Creedence Clearwater Revival discography, or go back to the Creedence Clearwater Revival tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.